Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts!

by Mike Lowery, Mike Lowery (Illustrator)

Overview

From the creative brain of Mike Lowery, discover the ULTIMATE book about all things prehistoric! Featuring fun facts, dinosaur jokes, comics, timelines, and more!

The Boys' Book of Survival meets Dav Pilkey with a prehistoric twist, in this definitive, go-to book about everything AWESOME you EVER wanted to know about dinosaurs. Discover a wealth of weird, wacky, and wild facts about dinosaurs, told in Mike Lowery's signature comic style with bright and energetic artwork, fresh framing devices, and hilarious jokes. This will be the go-to book for dinosaur enthusiasts that kids will put in their backpacks and obsess over, bridging the gap between encyclopedic nonfiction content and lighter picture book fare, filling the need with a one-stop shop for the legions of 6-9 year olds who want to know absolutely everything there is to know about dinosaurs.

Discover the must-have book for dinosaur enthusiasts, a madcap field guide full of facts and humor, and learn everything you ever wanted to know about prehistoric beasts!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338359725
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	10/15/2019
Series:	Everything Awesome About
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	175,297
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Mike Lowery is a New York Times bestselling illustrator who has worked on dozens of award-winning books for kids, including The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School, Mac B., Kid Spy series by Mac Barnett, How to Be a T. Rex, and many others. He's also written several books, including the Graphix Chapters Bug Scout series, Everything Awesome About series, and Santa Shark. Visit him online at mikelowery.com.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts:* "Lowery sandwiches a populous parade of very simply drawn dinos between a history of prehistory and a roundup of diverse topics, from what paleontologists do to sets of dinosaur jokes and "A Few Kinda Weird (and Unlikely!) Dino Extinction Theories... dinosaurs hold the spotlight, flying and marine reptiles, early mammals, and other fabulous early fauna take such frequent star turns that along with infobites galore, readers will come away with a fairly sound understanding of just how dinosaurs fit into the whole history of life on this planet....A manic but solid series kickoff." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review"Each page is jammed full of fun facts, jokes about dinosaurs, and graphic illustrations. Even the most diehard dinosaur expert will learn something new in this book... this book will be popular for the simple fact that it is just plain fun to read." — School Library Connection"[Lowery] does a fantastic job of balancing out the plethora of facts with a wonderful sense of humor...The bright, cartoonish illustrations and often hand-lettered text are perfectly suited to the writing's irreverent tone, which makes absorbing the facts a breeze." — BooklistPraise for Mac Undercover, illustrated by Mike Lowery:* "Barnett and Lowery bring the funny to the serious art of espionage in a perfect interplay of text and illustration... Barnett interweaves tidbits of global history fit for trivia lovers, while Lowery's comic-style images play a key role in the humor... Told with a sense of nostalgia for 1980s history and pop culture, the silliness and originality of this book will hook young readers." — School Library Journal, starred review

"Barnett takes his readers on a fun-filled ride... Barnett's tone throughout the story is humorous, lighthearted, and a little glib, and the over-the-top story is sure to appeal to many readers... an enjoyable romp that will leave readers salivating for the sequel." — Kirkus Reviews

"[Barnett's] riotous series debut as an adult recalling a 1980s childhood caper... goofy, two-color pictures by Lowery (the Doodle Adventure series) ramp up the silliness of this adventure... which should snare even the most hesitant readers." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

10/01/2019

Gr 2–5—Playful, humorous, and enthusiastic, the text and illustrations introduce prehistoric eras and creatures with an emphasis on dinosaurs. The conversational text goes above and beyond to engage the reader and goes hand in hand with the simple, bright, cartoonish illustrations. Lowery even hand-drew most of the lettering, with only the fast facts in typeset. This introduction to eras includes time lines, geology, plant and animal life, and insights into evolutionary thought. Lowery uses humor to make facts memorable. Despite the fun elements, there is a lack of documentation (footnotes or source notes) for internal quotes. While the book does have a bibliography of primary sources, it is notably brief. Appended is a how-to-draw dinosaur section that children will be tempted to draw in, and a pictoral dinosaur guide by period. VERDICT Not recommended, due to the lack of thorough documentation.—Nancy Call, formerly at Santa Cruz Public Libraries, Aptos, CA

School Library Journal

★ 2019-06-16
A cartoon history of dinosaurs and contemporary creatures, largely hand lettered and (mostly, anyway) colored inside the lines.

Moot the titular hyperbole may be, but it does capture the tone as Lowery sandwiches a populous parade of very simply drawn dinos between a history of prehistory and a roundup of diverse topics, from what paleontologists do to sets of dinosaur jokes and "A Few Kinda Weird (and Unlikely!) Dino Extinction Theories." Jokes and gags ("Why did the Archaeopteryx get the worm?" "Because it was an early bird!") are scattered throughout along with side remarks ("Not another mass extinction!"), as are identifying labels with phonetic pronunciations (Gorgonopsia: "GOR-ga-NOP-see-a") and cogent if dude!-ish observations: "These small weirdos…had one long claw-thing for catching stuff to eat"; "More time passed between Stegosaurus and T. Rex than the time between Velociraptor and microwavable pizza!" Better yet, though true dinosaurs hold the spotlight, flying and marine reptiles, early mammals, and other fabulous early fauna take such frequent star turns that along with infobites galore, readers will come away with a fairly sound understanding of just how dinosaurs fit into the whole history of life on this planet. Human figures of diverse hue occasionally step into view to offer comments or wisecracks.

A manic but solid series kickoff. (bibliography, drawing lessons) (Nonfiction. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews